Polish judicial reforms come under fire in Czech Republic

Judicial reforms in neighbouring Poland have come under fire in the Czech
Republic, but the government in Prague has so far not expressed an official
stance on developments in its Visegrad bloc neighbour and partner. But the
Czech Republic could well be put on the spot thanks to its current
presidency of the human rights body, the Council of Europe.

The upper house, the Senate, and lower house, both dominated by the Law
and Justice Party, approved the judicial shake-up. Only the president,
nominated by the same right-wing party, needs to sign the proposed law into
effect.

Criticism from Czech quarters has not been lacking. A petition from the
Czech Republic’s five highest judicial figures, including the head of the
Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetský, was released last Friday. It warned
that steps are being taken which threaten the very basis of democratic and
law abiding states. The judges warned that in spite of their respect for
the country’s sovereignty they could not keep silent.

Czech Minister of Justice, Robert Pelikán, has also voiced his concerns
about the Polish reforms of the judicial system, recently calling on his
counterpart to think again about pushing them through.

And the Czech Republic’s European Commissioner, Věra Jourová, who is
responsible for the justice dossier in Brussels, has also been outspoken.
She warned last week that mechanisms could be put in place by the European
Commission in the long term to punish states, such as Poland, which break
basic EU principles.

ʺWe are talking about the future [EU] budget and I am convinced that
there should be some sort of warning so that money from tax payers does not
go where, for example, some sort of dictatorial regime is being created.
That could mean, unfortunately, not just Poland but somewhere else. At the
moment we are talking about a general principle.ʺ

Věra Jourová, photo: Jana Trpišovská
Brussels can take the so-called nuclear option and withdraw a country’s
voting rights in EU institutions but that requires unanimity and Hungary
has so far said it will back the reforms taking place in Poland. Budapest
has similar issues of its own. The Czech government has so far been silent.

The Czech Republic though currently chairs the Council of Europe, one of
the continent’s main actors in the field of human rights and democracy.
An independent judiciary free of political interference is one of the main
planks of the democratic values which the council is continually monitoring
and promoting. In fact, strengthening judicial independence is at the
moment one of the council’s main goals and council members have
criticized the Polish government judicial reforms as a move towards
authoritarian rule.

In the Czech Republic itself, some commentators have questioned whether
the country should still put the four nation Visegrad Group at the centre
of its foreign policy when Poland and Hungary are seen taking steps
distancing themselves from core EU values.